tage, and might even be the only means of saving the State, or at any rate great part of it, from heavy calamity. "He thereupon concluded by inviting and urging the undersigned to be good enough to consider further what had passed. "In the discharge of this obligation, according to their duty and conscience, the undersigned now venture to submit the following observations. "The absence of the Sovereign Pontiff from his dominions is the most deplorable of political calamities, both from the estrangement between Prince and subject consequent upon it, and likewise because it of necessity makes the Sovereign an object of the solicitudes of foreigners. This is a source of deep regret for Italy, a cause of despondency in all good subjects, an occasion for rivalry and disagreement among foreign Powers of which one meanwhile, that is, Austria, will probably take advantage, in order to re-establish the relations broken up by the Italian war. "The prolongation of this absence, viewed in its bearing on the Roman State, cannot but lead either to an entire alteration, or subversion, of the form of government, or else to deadly intestine strife. "At the former result things might very easily arrive, through that habitual indifference in the people which finds a plea in the need of order and internal tranquillity; while there is a natural tendency to the latter from the indecisive action of the government, whence proceed reactions of party under colour of loyalty, personal animosities under the pretext of public spirit, feuds and factions through the country, each assuming the garb of patriotism. "The State, deprived of its Sovereign, is greatly exposed to foreign interference; a calamity, under which all good men would suffer not less acutely than from civil war, as would those districts which have kept their fidelity during the late vicissitudes, and which would have found a guarantee against such risks in the hoped and looked for presence of the Sovereign. "Hence, no doubt can be entertained that the first and most urgent demand of the public interest is the early, nay, if possible, instant return of the Pontiff into his own dominions. But he should return with dignity, in freedom, and with securities against the risk of having again to quit them. "For this purpose either of two courses might be adopted: the first dependent on simple force, the second on a solemn reconciliation or to speak more properly, dependent the one on material, the other on moral force. "The first is more rapid, more simple, more overwhelming but the Sovereign has it not of his own, and it must be borrowed from foreigners. : "The second is more durable, more dignified: and the Pontiff may be supplied with it from his own heart, and from the consciences of his subjects. "The undersigned, accordingly, conceive, that the latter is to be preferred: and, founding themselves on this idea, they wholly abstain even from a word relating to the other: both because they believe it would be utterly repugnant to the character and temper of their excellent Prince, and because they individually could not take a part even in the discussion of it; inasmuch as in so doing they would be acting against their convictions, which is dishonesty. "With reference, however, to moral force, the undersigned had imagined that the following might be useful and effective instruments for its exercise: namely "1. A high-minded and wise declaration, such as befits the mind and heart of His Holiness; and such as, serving the purposes indicated at the outset, would annihilate the calumnies of the enemies to the Pope's government, and would place it in advance of the exigencies of the times, and of the comprehensive, yet just desires of the people. "2. The nomination, in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, of a new responsible administration, to take its rise regularly from the resignation of the last preceding one, that of Soglia, and so onwards. Armed with extraordinary powers because of the temporary absence of the Sovereign, it should also be composed of competent persons, having their special qualification in a spirit of peace, and in an upright and disinterested attachment to the Sovereign and to the Nation. "3. A notification of the early departure of the Pope, and of his confirmed intention to return speedily to the States of the Church; with an invitation also to their inhabitants, and to the Civic Guards, to expedite, by the support of their exertions, the completion of the guarantees so highly requisite for his security and dignity, chiefly as against turbulent foreigners. "4. The announcement of just principles of government: and, among these, — "A hearty concurrence in establishing and maintaining the nationality of Italy; with an adhesion, therefore, to the principles of the Customs' League, and of a political Federation: "A single-minded adoption of the constitutional polity and laws, with a frank acceptance of all real developments, but a curb on all licentiousness or abuse: and accordingly a fresh election, freely and speedily, of the Representatives of the nation, with a view to an immediate re-assembling of the Councils, by whose support the Government is to be conducted. "These acts, taken in the aggregate, promptly and without qualification, would, in the belief of the Undersigned, have great effect in meeting the present circumstances of the country. Still greater, in their opinion, would be the advantage, should the wisdom of the Sovereign decide on further boons and provisions, such as the following: "Relief to the deranged finances by means of such a liberal loan from the ecclesiastical Estate, as might release the over-laden population from the pressure of extraordinary and excessive burdens. "Countenance given by the Pontiff to the honour and interests of Italy in the negotiations of Brussels. "Interposition of his paramount and authoritative voice to check, in the mean time, all abuse of force attending the military occupation of Lombardy. "At the worst, however, one of two alternatives might happen: either that the people should not duly respond to these acts, or that occurrences should supervene of such a nature as to overbear any calculation of political science, or of human government. "But in the first case, as the Undersigned think they see, the Pontifical Sovereignty would have the undivided honour of its determination, and the people would be responsible for all calamities following; while in the second, that Sovereignty would lay up for future times a cherished and glorious memory, perhaps one fraught with eventual triumph. "These reflections the Undersigned have freely expressed, because they were prompted by the late mark of the Sovereign's confidence; because His Eminence the most Reverend Lord Cardinal encouraged them; and because, free themselves from any anxiety or inclination for power, and chancing to be at the very foot of the throne, they have felt impelled thus to submit the sum of their impressions. They do not conceal from themselves, that their ideas and their plans may possibly appear to lean too much towards that spirit, which at this epoch rules the minds of the nations, almost all of them astir. But for this very reason it is their opinion, that the Papal Government should by a resolute policy cope with the gravity of the crisis, and, gaining by its traditional wisdom the mastery over times and circumstances, should make such dispositions as may give the people of its territory clearly to understand, that they may win from it in peace and security more than perhaps they could obtain from any other source, with all the hazards of convulsion. "But whatever may be the events, that are to enter into this process of social transformation, in all of which man. mingles subject to the mighty and hidden hand of Providence, the Undersigned must profess sentiments of devotion and gratitude to the Pontiff, of harmony and peace towards their fellow-countrymen; with these they set out from their own homes, with these they would return thither; and, accordingly, they pray his Eminence the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Antonelli to consent to become the expositor of their humble views before their benignant Sovereign, to whom, while they propose to submit, with an honourable and respectful frankness, their convictions, such as they are, in regard to public affairs, they likewise earnestly tender their personal services. "It only remains to urge, in conclusion, this single point, that if the existing unhappy posture of affairs should, from circumstances not within the cognisance of the Undersigned, continue, immediate provision may at any rate be made to supply every province and every municipality, in default of the supreme central power, with some standard, to which it may, at any rate for the time, conscientiously and securely conform, in the conflict now too probable between necessity and duty. "Molo di Gaeta: dated 22nd of December 1848, and pre- C. BEVILACQUA. While affairs were in this train at Gaeta, in Rome they went headlong. The nomination of the Supreme Giunta of State was stigmatised as an enormity, in a note of Cardinal Antonelli; and it had been denounced by the Holy Father, in a Protest of the 17th of December, as a sacrilegious aggression. On the other hand, the Republicans, who now carried both their heads and voices high, declared it to be a reckless invasion of the rights of the people. All the adepts in movements and insurrections, whom Italy had reared in her recent troubles, sped to Rome; and these took good care that no sort of moderation or temper should be kept. Rather, in all language and proceedings, fury and precipitancy were in vogue; |